History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1803.] MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS—CANALS—SCHOOLS. 587
recommendation about school-districts was made. They
did not come for five j^ears.
This pi'oposed change in school matters was
The Report of the
Committee under j^gt accepted, apparently, without opposition.
The Committee appointed at the
April meeting reported in May. Their recommendations
were not accepted at this meeting, but were placed on file.
The questions involved were not again considered till the
following year, when the report was accepted and the
recommendations adopted. About the same time the selectmen
were instructed to employ Mr. Lane of Farmington
to take charge of the Hawley Grammar School at a salary
of 8400 per year. He accepted and remained at the head of
that institution for several years.
other School Matters. The above was the first vote on record for
employing schoolmistresses, but the
names of none of them have been preserved. From
this time onward girls have had an equal chance with boys
in the town schools. The above vote was repeated in 1803,
and thereafter the school-committee was annually ap-
pointed. Within two years another report was made in
favor of doing something for the remote sections of the
town, including Farms (South), Lonetown, Roberts Meadow,
and Horse Mountain. The proposition was to divide
the school money among them according to the number of
polls in each section. At the same time the last paragraph
in the foregoing report in reference to schooling girls from
ten to fourteen years of age in the town schools, was re-
scinded, and the matter left to the discretion of the schoolcommittee.
The question of forming school-districts was
not again broached till the year 1807, when two districts
were formed at Lonetown.
School-Districts. Until this vear, the center of the town had
comprised a single district. In it were two
hundred sixty-five children between the ages of four and
twelve years, and it was voted to divide the territory into
four districts. They were composed as follows : — First
District, Hawley and Pleasant Streets ; Second, Plain or